A modern day library no longer operates with the same function of its predecessor decades ago, and certainly not from the 1950s. Gone are the days of a library solely serving as a book bunker. Today, libraries host community events, house computer labs, and are public places for the community to learn, grow, and inspire creativity — and New Orleans’s Public Library’s Main Library is no exception. While the library staff made significant enhancements to its programs and material collections throughout the years, the interior design remained essentially untouched in the storied building since it opened in the 1950s. The dedicated library staff was determined to change that.

So, Michel Thompson, Capital Projects Manager for the library, put the building’s capital funds to work with updates to the building’s first and second floor furniture, layout and flooring. To work through the library’s reinvigoration, Thompson collaborated with Library Interiors Group, an organization dedicated to library design, and Ellen Waguespack, Project Manager for the Capital Projects Administration of the City of New Orleans. Waguespack, who is a member of the International Interior Design Association, relied on her background as an interior designer to guide the library through its aesthetic updates.